F1 again this weekend at the Bahrain circuit on
the sand. 57 laps of the 5 km circuit, which did give us some good
racing last year, so I hope it will again.
After two wins on the trot for Renault, will
they manage to pull off the hat trick? On current form, this is
certainly possible, but as I have said many times, do not write
off a certain team with red coloured cars that come from Italy.
Bridgestone tyres have admitted that their tyre this year as
fitted to the Ferrari’s is just not in the hunt, but I am sure
that they will have come up with something by the time the cars
are all gridded up in Bahrain. Ferrari will also be debuting their
new race car, the F 2005, so we should expect them to be much more
competitive.
Toyota
was the surprise of the bunch in Malaysia, scoring their first
podium finish. If dollars get you to the front, then Toyota are
scheduled for their first win as well. Their budget is reckoned to
be the largest in Formula 1.
Both McLaren and Williams seem to be
‘almost’ there, and Heidfeld’s third place in Malaysia was
no fluke result for the team, other than the fact that Webber was
going to be 3rd and Heidfeld 4th, if Fisichella hadn’t turned
his brain off at an inopportune moment. He was admonished by the
stewards of the meeting and has been put on notice that they
expect no more lapses for the next few meetings.
I will be watching at Jameson’s Irish Pub in
Soi AR. The race starts at 2.30 p.m. in Bahrain, which I think is
6.30 here - but check your TV guides. Why don’t you join me, and
the other F1 enthusiasts for early dinner and a couple of hours of
motor sport?
For my money, the star of the Bangkok
International Motor Show this year was DaimlerChrysler. This
was the only automaker to give us both new conventional
vehicles, new energy-saving vehicles and some very significant
older vehicles. The ‘runner ups’ were Ford Motor
Corporation who won the Most Outrageous Rear Wing of the Year
Award with the WRC Rally Focus, gave us the new ‘road
going’ Focus, both two and four doors, and a new Mustang GT
in black, followed by BMW who presented us with the new 1
Series BMW, the new 3 Series and some of the largest
motorcycles seen this side of Harley-Davidson country.
Press Day, held the day before the official
opening, had the usual Thai “press” corps all fighting to
be first in line for the T-shirts given away as ‘freebies’
after the presentations by the various exhibitors. I am not
sorry to tell you I came back home without any! The ‘feeding
frenzy’ exhibited by some of my ‘colleagues’ is quite
nauseating.
Returning to DaimlerChry sler, they had a
separate exhibit of the ‘oldies’, beginning with what I
thought was the perfectly restored 1886 Benz ‘dog-cart’
built by Karl Benz, complete with rack and pinion steering and
a ‘patent’ plate with the date of receiving the
significant piece of paper. My faith in the restorer’s art
was dashed, however, when I found another “1886” Benz
built by Karl Benz hidden up the corridor, complete with rack
and pinion steering and a ‘patent’ plate with the date of
receiving the significant piece of paper! Chatting with one of
the DaimlerChrysler chaps revealed that the factory had made
about 10 of them, for use in shows all over the world.
Ford
WRC Rally Focus
For me, the car I was most taken with was
the 1939 Mercedes Streamliner 320, known as the ‘Motorway
Courier’. One of only two examples left in the world (unless
the DaimlerChrysler ‘restorers’ have got at this one too)
it was fabulous in black, with a long sweeping tail with a
central ridge (like the Tatra of the era), and spats over the
rear wheels. Not a powerful car, even in its day, with only 57
kW on tap, it was designed for the freeways and had an
overdrive transmission feature to reduce engine revs by 25
percent.
On its own special stand, separate from the
other new vehicles in the main hall, was the E200 NGT saloon.
This car is a dual-drive, using both CNG (compressed natural
gas) and gasoline fuels. In the boot area were four CNG
bottles holding 107 litres, as well as the standard fuel tank,
and amazingly there was still enough space for luggage.
BMW
3 Series
In CNG mode, the level of CO2 emissions is
reduced by 20 percent over the gasoline values. It is also a
most economical vehicle, taking 6.1 kg of CNG to travel 100 km
(or in petrol mode 9 litres of 95 octane gasoline), and with
the relative prices of the two fuels, the E200 NGT will cost
you around 48 baht per 100 kays in CNG mode, compared to
around 200 baht in gasoline mode.
There are currently 26 CNG stations in
Bangkok, but only two in the provinces, though the Thai
Petroleum Authority claims it will be increasing the number of
provincial stations soon. So you can save money with the E200
NGT, provided you have enough money to buy it in the first
place!
1939
Mercedes Streamliner 320
In DaimlerChrysler’s new vehicle stand
they had two versions of the A Class vehicles, which are
beginning to become much larger motorcars, than the original A
Class vehicles. At just under 2 million baht for the 1.7
litre, or well over 2 mill for the 2 litre, I wonder just how
many folk will be lining up for Benz’s baby. When you can
buy other (more conventional looking) small family chariots
for under 700,000 baht, it will take a true Benz enthusiast
with big pockets to buy an A Class, but one should never
forget that the three pointed star is still a great status
symbol.
CLS
four door coupe
DaimlerChrysler also gave us the release of
the right hand drive versions of the CLS four door coupe.
These are stunning machines, with headroom in the rear that
does not seem apparent looking at the sharply dipping down
rear door glass and roofline. However, I am assured by those
who sat in the rear chairs that there was enough.
I will be featuring more from the Bangkok
International Motor Show in next week’s column.
A
Class
